\n Explained: How will the BBC choose its next director-general and who could it be?\n <\/p>\n
The director-general takes a crucial role at the BBC, serving effectively as both the corporation’s CEO and its editor-in-chief across television, radio and online.<\/p>\n
How does the appointment process work?<\/p>\n
Since 2017,\u00a0the BBC Board, the governing body overseeing the corporation’s management, determines the recruitment process for the director-general.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It consists of four executive and 10 non-executive members, including the government-appointed chair – currently Samir Shah.<\/p>\n
When Davie was appointed in 2020, the board followed “a competitive process led by the Nominations Committee”, a subset of the board, that had identified suitable candidates.<\/p>\n
Among those shortlisted were\u00a0Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s director of content, Will Lewis, the former chief executive of the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and Doug Gurr, the head of Amazon’s UK and Ireland operations.<\/p>\n
Who will replace Davie?<\/p>\n
That seems to be up in the air at the moment.<\/p>\n
“It’s going to be a process that takes a number of months,” our\u00a0arts and entertainment correspondent\u00a0Katie Spencer<\/a>, Sky News said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But she says the BBC is under an incredible amount of pressure to find someone “very quickly” to fill Davie’s shoes.<\/p>\n “We’re hurtling towards the 2027 BBC charter renewal time… and we live in a very precarious time for the BBC at the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The TV landscape as we know it has fundamentally changed and having trust in news at the moment is so important.”<\/p>\n Nigel Farage has suggested that someone from the private sector, who has “run a forward-facing business and understands PR”, could be appointed as director-general.<\/p>\n